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THE SINGING PLACE 

AND OTHER POEMS 

LILY A. LONG 












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Glass __ 

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSfE 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/singingplaceotheOOIong 



The Little Bookfellow Series 



THE SINGING PLACE 
AND OTHER POEMS 



Other titles in this series: 
ESTRAYS; Poems by four Bookfellows, Thomas Kennedy, 

George Seymour, Vincent Starrett, and Basil Thompson. 
WILLIAM DE MORGAN, A POST-VICTORIAN REALIST; 

by Flora Warren Seymour. 
LYRICS, by Laura Blackburn. 

STEVENSON AT MANASQUAN, by Charlotte Eaton. 
CANDLES IN THE SUN, by William Griffith. 
LAUREATE ADDRESS, by John G. Neihardt. 
SAY NOW SHIBBOLETH, by Eugene Manlove Rhodes. 



THE SINGING PLACE 

AND OTHER POEMS 



BY 
LILY A. LONG 




CHICAGO 

THE BOOKFELOWS 

1922 



A number of the poems in this volume are included through 
the courtesy of the publishers of the Atlantic Monthly, the 
Century Magazine, Harper's Magazine, Poetry: a Maga- 
zine op Verse, and The Bellman. Five hundred copies of 
this first edition have been printed in the month of October, 






Copyright 1922 
by Flora Warren Seymour 



THE TORCH PRESS 

CEDAR RAPIDS 

IOWA 



NOV 20 5 22 



CIA 680 95 9 



To 
Gloria and Aliena 



CONTENTS 

The Singing Place 11 

Genius Loci 13 

The Yellow Bowl ...... 14 

' ' Even the Night Shall Be Light About Me ' ' 15 

Black Crows 16 

In Time 17 

The Sea Is Wild 18 

Ebb-Tide at Clovelly 19 

Away 20 

Exegesis 21 

Phyllys Speaks and Cleon Replies . . 22 

The RrvER Enchanted 23 

Sight Unseen 24 

The Sign 25 

Unseeing 26 

The City Streets 27 

In Retreat 28 

A Heaven to Order 29 

A Song 30 

The Rose Jar 31 

The Lone Guard 32 

This Little World 33 

Armistice ........ 34 

The Earth Track . . . . . . 35 

7 



Tanka .... 








36 


Frustrate .... 








37 


"Each in His Separate Star' 


) 






38 


Polarity .... 








39 


At the Railway Station . 








40 


The Poet's Part 








41 


The Unveiling . 








42 


When Aedh Died 








43 


Aliena .... 








44 


To Gloria 








45 


A Group of Birthday Songs 








46 


To a Maid op Eighteen . 








48 


Madonna .... 








49 


Contemporaries 








50 


The Captive Hours . 








51 


The Workers . 








52 


The Fallen 








53 


A January Face 








54 


Proof .... 








55 


By Searching . 








56 


The DrvER 








57 


Immured .... 








58 


He Buildeth His House . 








59 


Even Today 








60 


A Messenger 








61 


Transcript from the Ramayana 






62 


A Challenge . 








63 



THE SINGING PLACE 
AND OTHER POEMS 



THE SINGING PLACE 

Cold may lie the day, 

And bare of grace; 
At night I slip away 

To the Singing Place. 

A border of mist and doubt 

Before the gate, 
And the Dancing Stars grow still 

As hushed I wait. 
Then faint and far away 

I catch the beat 
In broken rhythm and rhyme 

Of joyous feet, — 
Lifting waves of sound 

That will rise and swell 
(If the prying eyes of thought 

Break not the spell,) 
Rise and swell and retreat 

And fall and flee, 
As over the edge of sleep 

They beckon me. 
And I wait as the seaweed waits 

For the lifting tide. 
To ask would be to awake, — 

To be denied. 
I cloud my eyes in the mist 

That veils the hem, — 
And then with a rush I am past, ■ 

I am Theirs, and of Them ! 
And the pulsing chant swells up 



11 



To touch the sky, 
And the song* is joy, is life, — 

And the song am I ! 
The thunderous music peals 

Around, o'erhead, — 
The dead would awake to hear 

If there were dead, 
But the life of the throbbing Sun 

Is in the song, 
And we weave the world anew, 

And the Singing Throng 
Fill every corner of space — 

Over the edge of sleep 

I bring but a trace 
Of the chants that pulse and sweep 

In the Singing Place. 



12 



GENIUS LOCI 

"Build here! Build here!" the Little People cried, 

And cast their magic wide. 

"The place is barren now, but here of yore 

A city rose, on dust that long before 

Had been an ancient city. Ages through 
Men here have cut the record of their will 
On wind and air and water, rock and hill, 

And on the heedful blue. 
Here we of old have watched with glee the strife 
Of mortals in their eager game of life, 
And danced to dizziness to see them come 
Or wander at our bidding, — we, the dumb ! 
We miss our ancient pastime. Build again, 
0, children of the passing day of men!" 

The stolid men who plodded dully by 
Paused, as if startled by a wordless cry, 
And scanned the barren place with lifted head. 
"We choose to build a city here," they said. 



13 



THE YELLOW BOWL 

When first the Manchu came to power, 
A potter made this yellow bowl, 
With quiet curve, and border scroll, 

And here inlaid the imperial flower. 
The peace of art was in his soul. 

Had not the Manchu come to power? 

Upon the flaky yellow base 

That now is dull and now is bright, 
A flowering branch, a bird alight, 

Expressed his thought in formal grace. 
Had not disorder taken flight, 

And left for art a quiet place? 

And then, the artist sense alight, 
He drew upon the yellow bowl 
The symbol of the restless soul, — 

A butterfly, in poised flight. 

For though the Manchu was in power, 
The soul must wake when strikes the hour. 



14 



EVEN THE NIGHT SHALL BE LIGHT 
ABOUT ME" 
Dark hidden in his heart 

The secret lay. 
No prying human eye 
Might aught unclean descry. 
He sealed his sullen heart 

And went his way. 
The watchers, voiceless all, 

His secret kept 
As they were leagued with him — 
The forest, silent, dim, 
The earth that covers all. 

And then he slept. 
At once his traitor heart 

The secret bared 
To worlds and hosts that passed 
In serried ranks, and east 
A glance upon his heart, 

How that it fared. 
All space was built of light, 

And everywhere 
"Was knowledge of the whole 
That lodged within his soul. 
Helpless before the light, 

His heart was bare. 
No saving shred of dark 

About him lay 
To hide his shamed head. 
In terror back he fled — 
Back to the shielding dark 

Of human day. 
15 



BLACK CROWS 

Crows upon a corn-field, fighting for their own, 
Taking in a harvest where they have not sown, 
Knowing well their hunger, — knowing that alone, 

Life at its beginning nothing but a maw ! — 

Fierce in its insistence on the primal law. 

Crows upon a corn-field ! — More than crows I saw. 



16 



IN TIME 

The tide is coming in. 

Its soft, wet fingers smooth and wipe away 
The mounds of sand where idle dreamers lay, 
And mimic forts that children reared in play, 

And fought to win. 

I saw a tower today 

Built by a king of olden time to tame 
Wild people, and ensure his deathless fame. 
The tower an ivied ruin ; and his name — 

I do not know. 



17 



THE SEA IS WILD 

The earth is tame with trouble, 
But the sea, the sea is wild ! 

It breaks man's yoke like seadrift. 
It will not be beguiled. 

Its whistle on the beaches 
Is like the sea-gull's cry, 

And in the open spaces 
It leaps against the sky. 

The earth is tame with trouble, 

Patient, fruitful, mild, 
As one that knows its master. 

But the sea, the sea is wild ! 



18 



EBB-TIDE AT CLOVELLY 

The waves come rolling in with threat and fury 

Against the waiting shore, 
Yet each one breaks in froth a little sooner 

Than where it broke before. 

Whining in disappointment on the shingle, 

It draws its forces back 
To leap again, and fail, and melt unheeded 

In foam and futile wrack. 

Against the passion of the wind-blown surface 

With all its show of pride, 
Silent, unseen, a greater power is working, — 

The ebbing tide. 



19 



AWAY 

Bracken and gorse and heather 
Climbing down the combe, — 

The old-world words hold magic 
When one is tied at home. 

Fern and phlox and clover 

Are common as the day, 
But these words touch the heart-strings 

When one is far away ! 



20 



EXEGESIS 

When the sunlight flashed upon her 

As she passed beneath the trees, — 
Flashed for but a moment's space 
On her all-unconscious face, — 
What of my philosophies? 

All the problems of the schoolmen, — 

Eight and wrong, and time and space, 
Had their answer (could I read it!) 
Found their reason (would I heed it!) 
In the light upon her face. 



21 



PHYLLYS SPEAKS AND CLEON REPLIES 

I 

The roses we gathered that summer day 
Have withered away and faded gray. 
Never were roses so sweet as they ! — 
Who would not weep when beauty dies ? 

II 

Love will linger, though beauty flies, 

For Love is old, and exceeding wise ! 
Roses may wither, — what are they ? 
Children of time and the sunny day! 

Love was born with the seeing eyes. 

Love sees beauty that never dies. 



22 



THE RIVER ENCHANTED 

Over the river lies 

The dim enchantment of mist, 
And the gray of reflected skies 

Is touched with amethyst. 

The drudge of the day is kissed 
Into beauty, story-wise, 

When Twilight and Stream keep tryst, 
And Trade, the bad fairy, flies. 



23 



SIGHT UNSEEN 

Strange ! As I looked from the frost-bound pane, 
Sudden the snow was swept away. 

The midnight stars had fled the sky, 
And on the earth no shadows lay. 

A soft wind blew across the hill, 

Whose hollows hid anemones, 
And I was back upon a day 

That lies, men count, ten years from these. 

What is real, and what is dream, — 
This, the snow, or that, the flowers? 

Things that are and things that seem 
Blend like winds in this world of ours. 



24 



THE SIGN 

How beauty fills the world ! 
Men strive and sin, 
And higher heap the burden of Earth's ill, 
And weave a web of wrong for her, — and still 

'Tis beauty fills the world. 

No blot in all the world ! 
The creeping green, 
The water flashing down in shining ways, 
The light that breaks in drenching color-sprays, 

With beauty fill the world. 

If beauty fills the world, 
Then all is said. 
The secret joy of one small perfect flower 
Were proof enough of God, — His love, His power, 

And beauty fills the world ! 



25 



UNSEEING 

They did not know, the people 
Who thronged the crowded street, 

That anything had happened 
To stay their hurrying feet. 

Yet while the shops were closing 
And factories shutting down, 

The sun had set, out westward, 
And the stars were over the town. 



26 



THE CITY STREETS 

The mole to his burrow, the fox to his trail, 

And man to his city street, 
For it's hunt or be hunted, fit or fail, 

When like and unlike meet. 

It's build you a den and guard it well, 

And make you a track to go. 
There 's a little while to buy and sell, — 

Then a long, long while to know. 



27 



IN RETREAT 

The snow is on the marshes, 

And the trees are bare. 
There's a chill of ancient winters 

In the sky and air, 
And the earth, that joyed in summer, 

Lies bound and bare. 

Yet there's peace upon the marshes, 

And the trees are still, 
And the sky is swept of passion, 

And the wind of will, 
For the quiet earth is waiting — 
Hushed and ready, undebating, — 
For the spring-time re-creating, 

And the new life-thrill. 



28 



A HEAVEN TO ORDER 

Let Heaven but give what Earth does, 

A little re-arranged ; 
Some few things well omitted, 

But dear things all unchanged! 

The wind, the sea, the mountain, 

The dry leaves' crisping sound, 
The scud of little wild things, 

The spring-smell of the ground, 
The lilt of poet-phrases 

Where words predestined meet, — 
(To hear it, joy — to make it 

A madness more than sweet ! ) 
The human love that answers 

In eyes that understand, 
That tells itself in absence 

As in the seeking hand, 
The garden's pretty graces, 

A certain autumn look, 
The moonlight on the water, 

The lamplight on a book, — 

Give but some chosen fragments 
From Earth's chaotic store, 

I'll build a Heaven the angels 
Will sigh for as they soar ! 



29 



A SONG 

All the maples were aflame 
When she came 
Through the long* and shadowy alleys of the cool Sep- 
tember wood. 
Goldenrod with yellow plume, 
Asters purple in their bloom, 
Sprang to spread a royal carpet in the places where 
she stood. 

And my heart was all aflame 
As she came 
Through the long and silent alleys that must lead her 
unto me. 
Flowers before unknown, unguessed, 
Woke where'er her footsteps pressed, 
And my life outbroke in beauty, since her eyes were 
there to see. 



30 



THE ROSE JAR 

Acres of riot bloom, 
Wind-blown waves of perfume 

Floating afar, 
This is their ultimate doom : — 
A fragrance faint in the room, 

If I open the jar! 

Youth and its eager years, 
Love and laughter and tears, 

And the earth a star, — 
Ah, pleasant the scent that inheres 
(Though faint as forgotten fears) 

In the sealed-up jar ! 



31 



THE LONE GUARD 

The rains set in last night, 
And though but yesterday 'twas Summer still, 
And golden sunshine lay upon the hill, 
Today 'tis Autumn, and an autumn chill 

Has fallen like a blight. 

The trees, in sad amaze, 
Have spread upon the sward, in mute defeat, 
A gold and scarlet carpet for the feet 
Of Autumn, whose oncoming makes complete 

The measure of their days. 

In all the overthrow, 
My bold Nasturtiums, with their hearts of flame, 
Keep up their splendid state in Summer's name. 
Rain-drenched but radiant, lone, but clear of blame, 

Defeat they will not know! 



32 



THIS LITTLE WORLD 

The Continents are whispering together 

Like a group of friendly gossips at their tea. 
"We have heard that it is said So-and-So is like to 

wed! 
Poor old This-and-That is dead. 

There is scandal in the tea-pot, — we shall see what 
we shall see!" 

The ancient Ocean tugs against the tether, 

And beats itself to fury in the old-time way. 
But gone its ancient dread. For above its stormy 

head, 
And beneath its restless bed, 

The whispering continues by the night and by the 
day. 

' ' The planet 's in for such a spell of weather ! 
There is trouble in the Balkans, as before ! 
There is war and threat of war in the regions near 

and far! 
There is famine ! And the bar 
Of mountain-range and ocean can part the world 
no more!" 



33 



ARMISTICE 

Have done with hate! 

Whose ever was the sin in greatest measure, 

All, all have sinned, and all have suffered wrong. 
To none of these, unhappy, may the treasure — 
Disputed, torn, — of innocence belong. 
Acknowledge truth, though late. 

And, by a bitter fate, 

All, all have suffered agonies past bearing 

Unless the world reach out a comrade-hand, 
Giving and taking comfort so, in sharing 

Sorrow and blame, — and faith to understand, 
To hope, and wait. 

Have done with hate! 

How can endurance come for the day's sorrow 

Save through forgetting wrongs, and building still 
A dyke against the floods of mad tomorrow 
With kindliness unmeasured, and good will? 
Have done, have done with hate ! 



34 



THE EARTH TRACK 

Into the endless field of blue 

The earth is flying on, 
And the faraway leagues that last year knew 

Are shaken off and gone. 

Whence we came and whither we go, 

And the days that we shall bide, 
And the why and wherefore, we may not know, 
But the blue is above and the blue below, 

And the stars are on either side. 



35 



TANKA 
(After the Japanese) 

There is a beauty 

So foreign to our senses 

It passes o'er us 

Like sound refined past hearing 

Till finer souls interpret. 



36 



FRUSTRATE 

The narcissus in my window 
Is filling the room with its calling, 
Loud, insistent peals of perfume 
That will not be denied. 

Be still, white flower! 
There are no bees to hear. 



37 



"EACH IN HIS SEPARATE STAR" 

Like an inverted sky the city lies below me, 

With, house-lights for stars, 

And street-lights for planets, 

And bridge-lights flung far across the river 

To mimic the Milky Way. 

Worlds unknown ! 

The city below, and the sky above me, 
Alike distant, alike unknown. 



38 



POLARITY 

My spirit flares backward 

Like a flame in the wind 

When you approach. 

There is no reason, 

As the mind knows reason, 

But the spirit holds a deeper knowledge. 

The reason is there. 



39 



AT THE RAILWAY STATION 

Smoke and steam, 
The clangor of bells and engines, 
Spelling adventure, 
Spelling The Long Trail, 
Beyond the Horizon! 

Spelling the soul 's freedom in a universe of wonder 



40 



THE POET'S PART 

It is a little world where poets dwell, — 

A little, hidden world ; and few there be 
Who know its sign or language, or can tell 

Whence come the visions that the poets see. 

The great world beats about it heedlessly, 
With things to win, to own, to buy, to sell, 

With myriad cares that leave no mortal free, 
With hopes that spur and bafflements that quell. 

Yet evermore the great world in its might 
Swings onward through the darkness by the light 

Caught up by poet hand from poet hand ; 

And if but once should sink that flaming brand, 
Why, then would come at last the endless night, 

To hide the ruin of what God had planned. 



41 



THE UNVEILING 

On the earth a poet woke, alone. 

Hushed he waited, in that alien place, 
Till a hand was laid upon his own, 
And he dimly guessed a veiled face. 

' ' I am she that men call Toil, ' ' he heard ; 
But the voice — ah, he had loved it long, 
And he started, with an eager word, — 
"Thou art Song!" 

Swift she passed before him till they stood 

Where men fought with men upon a plain, — 
Fought and hated, died, and cursed all good. 
Pityingly she spoke. "They call me Pain." 
But he saw them not. He only saw 
Clearlier through the veil her radiant brow, 
And he answered, with a touch of awe, — 
"Joy art thou!" 

Then she led him to the outer place 

Where the stars are, and the softened breath 
Of earth's sorrow swells the chant of space. 
Wondrously she smiled. "Men call me Death!" 
But the veil had fallen, and the light 
Of her uplifted face was in his heart. 
"Now at last I know thy name aright, — 
"Life thou art!" 



42 



WHEN AEDH DIED 

When Aedh died 
A sudden wind awoke within the wood, 
Swelling in murmurs he had understood, 

And then to silence sighed. 

If it be so 
That then the trees he loved were 'ware he went, 
Or if the waiting Shee a greeting sent, 

I, earth-blind, cannot know. 

As signals dart, 
A sudden wind awoke upon the hill 
As though the earth were troubled, — then fell still 

And empty as my heart. 



43 



ALIENA 

The princess in the fairy tale 

Walked safely through the wood enchanted, 
While evil things that lurked around, 
Behind the trees, beneath the ground, 
Fell harmless back, — so did abound 

The power of innocence undaunted. 

So she goes through the world to-day 

Enwrapped in shielding dreams elysian ; 
And evil speakings quiet fall, 
And envy, hate, and thoughts that crawl, 
Die, — though she see them not at all 
For seeing of a constant vision. 

For eyes that dwell on beauty long 

Grow sweetly blind to what would flout them, 
And hearts that hold their faith a trust, 
That choose the blossom, not the dust, 
Grow strong to walk where'er they must, 
And make a path of peace about them. 



44 



TO GLORIA 

If they speak true who say we lived before, 

Thou must have walked the earth a crowned queen, 
Or, as the lady of some large demesne, 

Have ruled thy vassals in those days of yore. 

For thou art proud, as those who know their state, 
And true as those who long have ceased to lie, 
And lonely, too, as those whose place is high, 

And brave, as those who ask no odds of fate. 

Too proud, too lonely, in those days of eld ! 
And so thy lot was cast with us today, 
That thou might 'st walk the common human way, 

And share the simpler burdens then withheld. 

For high and low and near and far are one 
To the exploring soul that wills to know. 
It gathers balm where thorns and thistles grow, 

And counts all equal when the task is done. 



45 



A GROUP OF BIRTHDAY SONGS 

(March thirtieth) 

I 

Hills in a purple haze, 

Ever to skyward receding; 
Beckoning mountain ways 

To unknown distances leading; 
Dervish dances of snow, 

Pure and chill and lonely; 
Tenderest sunset glow, 

As warm as is love only ! — 

Mystery, charm, and chill, 

And changes the moments reckon, 
And faith abiding still, 

And strength that cannot weaken ! — 
Where do the mountains lift 

"Whose witcheries you inherit ? 
That gave for a birthday gift 

Their spirit in your spirit? 

II 

Life, and the quest of life, 

Was life's bequest to thee. 
A lambent flame upspringing, 
Its pulsing light far-flinging, 
Thy spirit seems to me. 

Joy, and the quest of joy, 
Was joy's bequest to thee. 

The joy of still pursuing 

What, won, were joy's undoing, — 
Unwon, its guaranty ! 

46 



Love, and the quest of love, 

Was love 's bequest to thee, ■ 
No lower prize e 'er swerving 
From that supreme deserving 
Thy claim on fortune's fee. 

Ill 

Here 's to the March-born ! 
Health and a stout heart 

Ever attend her. 
Well will her own heart 
Ever defend her. 
Strong is the March-born. 

Storm-child is she. 
Bleak winds and snow skies 

Hurry to meet her. 
Bleakest and barest 
Cannot defeat her. 
Master is she. 

March, the spring guardsman ! 
Holding the ice back 

With its strong sun-shield 
Till the frail flower-flock 
See their old foe yield, — 
Guardsman and bardsman ! 

So the March comer. 
Fighter when need be; 
Sure foot and steady ; 
Dreamer when may be ; 
Lover all ready ; 
Poet in armor! 

47 



TO A MAID OF EIGHTEEN 

Gather it up and fold it away 

With rosemary leaves and lavender spray, — 

Sweet Seventeen! 
Wrap it in memories of tenderest hue, 
Warm with the joy that has thrilled them, and strew 

Fair hopes between. 

Wondrous the alchemy of The Past ! 
Fixed beyond changing it now holds fast 

Each winged day : — 
Moments of ecstasy, fleeting as fair, 
Kainbow-hued fantasies, painted on air, — 

Safe now for aye ! 

Every moment that fades into gray 
Paves but a pathway to meet a new day 

Brimming with light. 
Look to the east, where the sky is aglow, 
Challenge to joy and endeavor! Below 

Sleeps yesternight. 



MADONNA 

If a star should come to earth, 

Could the meadow grasses hide it ? 
Rather would its skyey birth 

Dim all other light beside it. 
We should know it, such star-grace is, 

By its quenchless inner glow, 
Making light in shadowy places. 

So we know thee, — even so. 

If a queen laid by her crown, 

Going where her care was needed, 
Would her queenship, so laid down, 

Go of human eyes unheeded? 
Every royal step would tell it, 

Every look the truth would show, 
Every traitor tone would spell it. 

So we know thee, — even so ! 



49 



CONTEMPORARIES 

The dear old days are gone for aye, I sighed, 
And strove to read again the darkening years; 
And, with the voice of one who speaks through tears, 
"Forever gone!" sad Memory replied. 
But, like a mother who might gently chide 
A child that trembles at its unknown fears, 
The voice of Life makes answer (and doubt clears) 
"Nay, sail'st thou then alone upon the tide?" 
I turn to the receding shore. Behold, 

There dwell but ghosts of that which used to be, 
And all the lives that mine with love enfold 

Are ever keeping even pace with me. 
Dear heart, I cannot fear the growing old, 
Since I may never grow away from thee! 



50 



THE CAPTIVE HOURS 

Endlessly out of the Timeless Place 

The sands of time They pour, 
And some are swept to the farthest star, 

And some to heaven's floor, 
And some are caught by the whirling earth 

To measure its track in space. 
Oh, men who claim them, use them, tame them, 

Set them a task of grace ! 



51 



THE WORKERS 

Forging a soul in the dark, 

They strive, and sob, and die; 
And wrung from the pain of the age-long strain 

Goes up a bitter cry. 

Cruel the daily need, 

And salt with tears their bread, 
And long the road and weary the load 

Before they are happily dead. 

Blinded, they cannot see 

That bread may be but a lure 
To lash their will into striving still 

For things that shall endure. 

Once they are happily dead, 

They'll turn again and mark 
How in the strain of the age-long pain 

They were forging a soul in the dark. 



52 



THE FALLEN 

And were ye of the Seekers, ye fallen, 

Ye merged in the mire? 
When ye clutched so, and stumbled, and stifled, 

Were ye led by Desire, — 
God's angel of longing, whose task is 

To set souls afire ? 

Too feeble the flame of your burning ! 

Was passion so pale 
Ye could drown it in draughts for the body? 

Could nothing avail 
To fire you to mightily conquer 

Or mightily fail? 

Nay, truly, God's angel of longing 

Who sets souls afire 
Must chafe when the snatched spark of heaven 

Falls so in the mire, 
To sputter in pitiful sinning 

And weakly expire. 



53 



A JANUARY FACE 

Earth, with face of frozen sorrow, 

Why dost thou suffer so? 
Is it for sin ? Or dost thou borrow 
The burden of mortal woe? 

' ' I have turned me away from my Lord, the Sun, 

1 am undone, undone! 

I have turned me away from the living light, 
And I find my portion night. 
For all of the joyance that laughed in me, 
And all of the power that leaped in me, 
Were not mine own, but came to me 

In the smile of my Lord, the Sun. 
I turned me away from the living light, — 

I am undone, undone!" 



54 



PROOF 

Ah, heart, my heart, why wilt thou anguish so ? 

Be still, and see. In truth, a little wrong, 
And not a great one, is this blinding blow 

That sweeps us bare of love and hope and song. 
The banishment of joy has made us know, 

Beyond all doubt, that joy is very strong. 
Disloyalty would not so bitter show 

Were it not proven truth that love lives long. 
Then, heart, my heart, be still, and count our gain, 
The knowledge we have won, at price of pain, 

That faith exists indeed, since thus is clear 

The woful lack when 'tis no longer here. 
It is a little thing our joy should wane 

If sure the ordering of the worlds appear. 



55 



BY SEARCHING 

Three things are certain in this world of doubt, — 
That nature in all ways is beautiful; 
That men have held the truth more dear than life ; 
That goodness bears unfailing fruit of peace. 

Oh, Thou who hid'st behind the triple veil 
Of thine own radiance, till our troubled souls 
Are sure of nothing but their ignorance, 
Thy radiant veils of goodness, beauty, truth, 
Are woven through and through our planet's web. 
We find Thee not by searching. Yet — Thou art ! 



56 



THE DIVER 

I have plunged into life, God, 

As a diver into the sea, 
Knowing and heeding naught 

Save thine old command to me 
To go and seek for thy pearl, 

Hidden wherever it be. 

And the waters are in my eyes ; 

They clutch at my straining breath ; 
They beat in my ears; yet, "Seek" 

My heart still whispereth, 
And I grope, and forbear to call 

On the easy rescuer, Death. 

For thy pearl must be here in the sands 

If ever a warrant there be 
For that old command of thine 

To plunge into life and see. 
So I search, for I trust in thy truth, 

thou Lord of the Truth, and of me. 



57 



IMMURED 

"Within this narrow cell that I call "me," 
I was imprisoned ere the worlds began, 
And all the worlds must run, as first they ran, 

In silver star-dust, ere I shall be free. 
I beat my hands against the walls and find 
It is my breast I beat, oh, bond and blind ! 



58 



HE BUILDETH HIS HOUSE 

He hewed him the cold, gray rock 

To make the foundations under. 
The walls and the towers should lock 

Past the power of the earth to sunder. 
Then, masking the bastions' frown, 

Art came, embroidered and gilded, 
That beauty and joy might crown 

The palace which power had builded. 

God sighed: "Why build so tall 
Thy prison wallV 



59 



EVEN TODAY 

When I reject my brother's love, 
And look for faults to score, 

I sin against the Holy Ghost, 
And make Its burdens more. 

For love is all that saves this Earth 

From proving utter loss, 
And love rejected, anywhere, 

Is Christ upon the Cross. 



60 



A MESSENGER 

He treads the ways of silence, safely hid 

Thus from the world's acclaim 

And teasing fame. 
Beneath his cloak he bears, the crowd amid, 

In vase of ancient frame, 

The sacred flame. 

The children of the world go up and down, 

Weaving their many creeds 

And noisy deeds. 
His silence, only, shields him from their frown 

Who tear each hand that feeds 

Their deepest needs. 



61 



TRANSCRIPT FROM THE RAMAYANA 

Nay, virtue is a service that man owes 

To his own soul ; and though there were no heaven, 

Nor any God to rule the lawless world, 

It were not less the binding law of life. 

It is man's privilege to die for truth, 

And no one may forbid him, or deny. 

Betray me if ye must, O brother men ; 

Pour out your rage on me, ye watching fiends ; 

Smile on in cold disdain, ye far-off Gods 

Who see me as a foam-fleck on the stream ; 

Earth, heaven, and hell, combine your might to 

crush, — 
I still hold fast by this inheritance ! 
My strength is nothing, — time can cripple it ; 
My youth, — already grief has withered it ; 
My heart, — poor heart, it is not proof against 
The racking agony it must endure, 
And life itself may slip from out its hold; 
But even so my soul, that has not tripped, 
Shall triumph, and, in dying, give the lie 
To soulless Destiny that dares, forsooth, 
To boast itself the master of a Man ! 



62 



THE CHALLENGE 

Love or hate me as you may, 

As you must, as you will. 
Far beyond the words we say 

Lies the issue, white and still. 
I but ask — as falls the bar 

Distance built 'twixt each and each 
Were you born beneath my star? 

Do we speak the self-same speech ? 



63 



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